Load development-CZ 527 American

[Tom Kat]

Tonight was a good night for shooting. I have a very accurate load for this gun using 32 gr Hornady vmax bullets. But I have read some unfavorable reports about their performance on Coyotes. I have always been a fan of Sierra bullets so I loaded up some 39gr Blitzkings pushed by 25 grns of Benchmark powder. The results showed me enough to work on developing this as my hunting load.

[K22]

Decent group. I'm not a fan of the 39gr. Sierra's, but lots and lots of folks love them. The 32gr. Nosler BT works good on Coyotes. I'm a huge fan of the Berger 35gr hp and especially the 37gr.hp CRT bullet or the 37gr. Blackhole bullet.

[Tom Kat]

I have toured the Sierra factory and was impressed with them. They were nice folks.

I have killed a lot of coyotes with the 52gr Match King out of a .22-250 rifle, so I have some history. I was also attracted to the high BC of the 39 gr SBK. One thing I noticed right away was the extra 'punch' it seemed to have over those vmax bullets. I could hear the 39gr THWAPAPING the back stop....

[Bill K]

The 39 grn BK's are a great bullet in most rifles (20 cal) with a 1/12 or faster twist. Way better than the 40 grn. You will be happy with them.
I do prefer the 32 grn and my rifle's shoot them the best, overall. But is you want a little better woomp.. 39's will do it.

Good start on the grouping. Mine is shooting very well. year after year, with 32 grn over CFE 223.

102_7338.JPG (1.17 MiB) Viewed 10557 times

[jsh]

I have seen reference to the “CRT” bullets, but find no info on them. Are they still available?

[Bill K]

I don't believe so, but contact Brad at Custom Reloading Tools and ask. Check out his website.

[jsh]

Anyone have a link? Tried all kinds of searches for CRT with no luck.

[Bill K]

Should have put that in. Small Caliber Club.com

[Tom Kat]

I am sorry to say 39Gr SBK are very hard to find right now. Next up will be 35gr Berger which are easier to find... any load suggestions? I know there is lots written on this forum but was hoping someone has a pet load...

[Tom Kat]

The 39 grn BK's are a great bullet in most rifles (20 cal) with a 1/12 or faster twist. Way better than the 40 grn. You will be happy with them.
I do prefer the 32 grn and my rifle's shoot them the best, overall. But is you want a little better woomp.. 39's will do it.

Good start on the grouping. Mine is shooting very well. year after year, with 32 grn over CFE 223. 102_7338.JPG

Great shooting. Mine will do something like that with 32 gr VMAX, but was hoping for something with a better reputation for not splashing....

[Bill K]

I have no issues with splashing. the bullet enters the chest/lung area and just explodes inside. I firmly believe this "Splashing" is overrated, but too each of us our opinion.

As for a pet load, most of us work one up in OUR rifle. To give someone a load and they use it THIER rifle, might not be safe or be too high in pressure. so most are careful in listing pet loads. My load is the 32 grn Nosler lead free over CFE 223. Start around 28.5 and work up into the area of 29.4 in yours, if you want try that. Also check out load date in the header on this site and/or visit Hodgden's data site for various load data to work with.

[Tom Kat]

Bill K maybe, but I have also seen some pictures of some nasty shots. Who knows? Anyway I actually had lunch one time with the Hogdons boys and told them about my love affair with 8208XBR. I should add I am an experienced handloader with no experience using Berger bullets...

[K22]

8208XBR is my favorite in the 204. Running a 35gr. Berger in my rifle I use 27.9 gr. of 8208. The brass is Hornady and the primer is Rem. 7 1/2.

CRT bullets are no longer made I'm sorry to say. The 37gr. Blackhole Bullets works quite well also.

[Bill K]

You might want to pull up Hammer bullets and look over their lineup of some good bullets.

[K22]

You might want to pull up Hammer bullets and look over their lineup of some good bullets.

How do the Hammer 31gr. bullets work on Coyotes? Are they pelt destroyers?